Arkansas Football: Will Ronnie Wingo, Jr. Steal Knile Davis' Thunder?

I’ve got to say that this holiday weekend has been made all the more enjoyable and interesting due to the fact that I unearthed one of my old idea notebooks from the back of my closet a few days ago.

As I’ve sat sifting through all the pages of my 2010 summer sports diary reminiscing about all the thoughts and predictions I had for the then-upcoming college football season, I’ve grown both equally frustrated yet also very relieved when thinking about the many article ideas I never got around to putting into print.

I’ve been looking over the dozens upon dozens of basic headlines that I had at one point intended to turn into some type of article.

Some have left me saying, "Man, I really wish I would have said that," while others have had me thinking thank God I never made that thought public.

For every "Can Cam Newton Lead Auburn to SEC Glory?" idea, I’ve also come across plenty of ideas such as Jerrod Johnson is a Heisman front-runner, so I guess it all evens out in the end.

One of the more intriguing past ideas that I’ve brought back to life during my retrospective weekend was an article I had wanted to write about Arkansas RB Ronnie Wingo, Jr.

Wingo was one of the players who really caught my eye last summer, and I had intended to express my high hopes for him, but I just never got around to writing the piece.

So I guess I might as well give it a shot now.

Going into last season, the Arkansas backfield situation seemed like a bit of a crowded mystery dance as it appeared that Wingo, Knile Davis and Broderick Green would all be battling for touches, and at that point, none of the three had proven to be a go-to workhorse type of back in the mold of former Arkansas star Darren McFadden.

That all changed, of course, when Davis took the SEC by storm as a sophomore, lighting up the conference, rushing for over 1,300 yards and 13 TDs in a breakout campaign.

Davis left Wingo and Green in his figurative dust, as the two backup backs only combined for a little over 600 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, which amounted to less than half of their more productive backfield mate’s output.

In fact, Wingo made most of his impact as a receiver out of the backfield, hauling in 27 passes for 274 yards and four scores.

As the 2011 season now draws near, it looks as if the Razorbacks’ backfield will consist mainly of the two-headed attack of Davis and Wingo, with a little bit of Dennis Johnson thrown in for good measure.

Sadly, Green was lost for the year with a torn ACL.

Davis has already established himself as one of the premier backs in the SEC, and he belongs in the conversation with the likes of South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore, Alabama’s Trent Richardson and Auburn’s Michael Dyer.

Wingo on the other hand has yet to cash in on his initial hype.

Sure there have been a few big plays, a few nice runs and a few flashes of potential, but at this point it just hasn’t come all together.

The 6’3’’, 230-pound junior has yet to live up to his four-star billing as a highly touted recruit out of University High School in St. Louis; however, that could change this year.

Wingo opened the eyes of coaches, teammates and media members alike with his performance in the spring, and it might just be an indicator of what’s to come this season.

Just judging solely from the few grainy high school highlights and scattered collegiate plays that I’ve seen of Wingo, I can honestly say that I’m excited to see what the big, bruising back has in store this season.

You don’t see Wingo’s size-speed combination from just any run-of-the-mill back. And when you add in his ability to make plays in the passing game, it makes him an even more dangerous weapon.

We know that the Arkansas offensive line will be a work in progress this season, but if the offensive coaching staff has enough faith in Wingo to give him the proper amount of carries, he has the potential to be a special player and an offensive difference maker for the Razorbacks this year.

All the talk this offseason will be about Davis, and deservedly so. But it could end up being Wingo who ultimately makes the 2011 season his personal coming out party, just as Davis did last year.